The opportunity to personalize features in a mobile vehicle is ever increasing as the automobile is being transformed into a communications and entertainment platform as well as a transportation platform. Many vehicles now have hundreds of personalization settings such as seat and mirror behavior, door lock/unlock behavior, radio station present selections, climate controls, custom button configurations and theft alarm settings. With projections that by 2006 almost all new American cars will have some level of telematics service, most vehicles will support customization or personalization of wireless vehicle communication, networking, maintenance and diagnostic services.
Controller systems may be configured or updated in a manner similar to software updates. Even liquid crystal (LCD) displays on the dashboard may be reconfigurable with changes on which data is on the center screen and which is relegated to side panels. For example, it is possible to rearrange dashboard displays for the speedometer, global positioning system (GPS), map navigation, cell phone, two-way radio, maps, radio presets, and mirror and seating behavior settings.
Many of these personalization settings are non-intuitive vehicle-only interfaces, such as, for example requiring a user to set them through a dashboard display or a combination of key fob button strokes. The present invention advances the art of vehicle personalization.